The silly, the bad, the good

 The title of our blog is obviously a take on 'the good, the bad, the ugly', with a different word and a changed word order. Wanna know why? Well, our theme deserves it! Guessed the theme? Yes, today let us talk of advertising.

Well, as part of the Additional English syllabus, I had to teach an essay (actually a talk he gave at an advertising convention of all the places!) by the Pulitzer Prize winning author, Herman Wouk. A blistering attack it is on the advertising profession, obsessed with selling at any cost. Nothing, absolutely nothing, is sacrosanct for this profession, says Wouk. It trivialises the language  and its usage in the process, he argues.

My Commerce students, weaned on syllabi that glorified sales, used to find the essay intriguing, while the Arts students, reared on Psychology and Sociology loved it when I would explain the critique of consumerism hidden behind the so-called science and art of advertising. Science students could not care less!

In a way, such a response by the young shows the silly and the bad part of the ads. Multiple examples can be easily remembered. Be it the  actually not so 'fair-n-lovely' ad or the 'pan masala' ads, these ads that cater to the ugly, to the beastly in the human race  such as egoism, competitive spirit, oneupmanship, quasi-racist perceptions based on the skin complexion are always handmaiden of/to the  capital-driven market oriented status quo.

For the S.Y.B.A. Additional English course, I had to teach English in/for advertising. I used to explain the entire verbal, audio-visual structure that would go in to the making of an ad, whether the mode be print, audio/visual, or the internet.  Next, I had to make them create ads when I would get in the ethical issues.

To prove these, often I used the Amul ads as my  examples. These ads, whether in the print form in a magazine or up the billboards, always combine a great wordplay with an ethical vision. They form the good of our title!

That faith, that belief of mine in the socially relevant, verbally creative Amul ads was yet again validated when my brother, Parag alias Raju, sent me a superb Amul advt. It rebuked gently the excesses of the cricket (and baiting) crazy nation which was almost in mourning  because of the loss of the cricket cup! 

Instead, the ad celebrated the rescue team that saved the miners cooped up in the collapsed tunnel for seventeen long days. As usual, brilliantly using puns and ambiguities, it has  a lovely message that I am sure is the much needed  sugar coated pill! 

Pratima@The internet, the atomic energy, the AI, and the ads, all truly dangerous, are actually tools. Through our use, we make them the silly, the good, the bad or the ugly!

The New Wonders of the World

 What a huge sigh of relief when all the trapped workers were rescued after some seventeen suspenseful days! Luckily for them, where they were trapped, oxygen, it seems, was not an issue. Anyways,  they were provided fruits, water and oxygen via a pipe running through the tunnel. Endoscopic cameras were used to capture their images.

Multiple technologies, including rat hole tunnelling, were used to finally get them this new lease of life. That is the theme of our blog today. What all new ways are emerging to conceptualise such unfortunate rescue operations as well as transport modes! 

Just like anybody travelling that route would never forget this rescue mission, would anybody to able to forget his/her journey in the Chunnel tube? Do not you know it? Well, the Chunnel is the under the seabed tunnel that connects France and England. 

A similar tunnel under the seabed exists in Japan, too.  Personally, I find the Pamban bridge and the Bandra-Worli sea link route, why, even the Pune-Mumbai Express way, to be the images of the new wonders of the world. What all analytical planning gets involved in imagining and realising such marvels! 

I read up a few articles on the very many technologies involved in such constructions. The current ones, it seems, can drill in under the sea bed already made metro/tube tracks! Sure, it is tampering with Nature in a way. Yet it is also a tribute to human imagination, brilliant intellect and truly 'out of the box' creativity. 

What makes such constructions the new wonders of the world is the humanity displayed by these trapped workers. They had decided amongst themselves, it seems, that the young ones would be first rescued! Reminded me of the very many stories during the Covid era when older patients willingly offered their beds and oxygen  cylinders to  the younger! Such humane considerations are the real wonders of the world!

Pratima@ Technology is the real magic tool today.

From darkness to light!

 At times, it is great intellectual excitement trying to understand creatively the texts and the rituals that have been part of one's being, of one's very existence from the very childhood. That process, I think, is the journey from darkness to light, the "tamaso ma jyotir gamay" moment.

As it is, most human lives are spent as described in the Cave Metaphor Plato immortalised. If from shadows, from dim darknesses, one has to travel towards light, one has to understand such subtleties as the "jyotir gamay" feel, I think. 

Let me give a concrete example. Look at the Kartik Purnima. It is also considered the Dev Diwali. It comes  roughly fifteen days after the regular Diwali is celebrated. The faithful believe that on this day, all the gods, especially Lord Shiva, descend down from the Heaven to bathe in the Ganges.

A beautiful "aarti" gets performed on the banks of the Ganges. It is indeed a divine sight as so many videos can prove. May not be on that grand scale,  but the simple process of lighting a diya and offering it with a prayer to the river to let it flow down the stream has an intense lyricism that somehow links it to infinity. The flickering flame of the diya undulating with the gentle waves continues to shine till eyes can follow it downstream, and even thereafter it seems to flow forever.

Suddenly then emerges an epiphanic moment which clarifies the 'forever to eternity' feel, the "amritam gamay" sense. One suddenly seems to realise that life exists forever, one with every aspect of the universe. 

In such silent subtle moments, I suppose, even the most materialistic minds, too, would realise the ordinariness of banal earthly desires, of silly hatreds, of foolish jealousies of somebody who never even was concerned with your cheapness-es. Thus would start the process of traversing towards truths beyond all the lies with which base minds are (ful)filled. 

May be, that is the meaning of the Devdiwali festival? To cleanse the mind of all that is earthly, peurile, petty?  Is not this the real "sat gamay" luminosity which is captured in every intensely lyrical text, be it a poem or a prayer?

Pratima@"To see a World in a Grain of Sand/And a Heaven in a Wild Flower/Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand/And Eternity in an hour" is the real "amritam gamay, sat gamay, jyotir gamay" moment of traversing beyond all darkness-es to luminescence.

Meditations on Devotion: Part II

November 26 was a beautiful full moon day, the Tripuryi Pournima. Sure it was ruined by the rains that lashed late in the evening. Yet the Tripuri Pournima has a simply superb memory for me.

We had celebrated Aai's seventy fifth birthday. One of the decorations was with seventy five diyas. That Tripuri Pournima, I decided to use these to light up the Shiva temple in a lane nearby. Of course, proper permissions were taken, and all. 

I had to make some three trips there to make all the arrangements perfect. Then I took Aai there, and lit up each diya. The entire marble premises were bathed in light, of the diyas and the moonlight. So was her face, filled with literally divine delight, a memory I shall never ever forget.

Actually, Tripuri pournima ends the Tulasi Vivah period. One of my students once invited me for the ceremony. Indeed it is cute. I find the legend behind the ritual fascinating. It is a story of dedication and devotion.

In a way, the myth is rather like Ahilya's, with a few distant echoes of Savitri. Vrinda, the wife of the demon king Jalandhar, is such a dedicated better half that her piety, purity and devotion make him invincible. That gets gods in to trouble.

Apparently, to defeat him, the only way is to deceive her. It seems Vishnu approaches her, disguised as her husband. Being genuine herself, Vrinda never suspects anything. Immediately though, Jalandhar is defeated.  As she thus realises the deception, she curses the Lord that he would become a stone. Hence the shaligram.  

The Tulasi Vivah, the period with which begin the auspicious days for all such  happy occasions as maunjibandhan and marriages, is a tribute to Vrinda's devotion. Why the Tulasi, the holy basil plant?

It seems when Lord Vishnu had churned the Ksheer Sagar to get amrut, he shed happy tears when he finally got it. One such tear fell in to the making of the basil plant, the Tulasi who took pity on the lonely shaligram. The Lord was pleased with her dedication and devotion. To mark these, it seems, is celebrated the ceremony. 

What could be the relevance of such stories in the twenty first century when even feminism is shallowly considered passe in an era defined by individuated spaces in every sphere? May be, they echo the need for  bonds that are currently getting thin and fragile? May be, the legends remind us that dedication and devotion in a relationship by each partner results in a happy togetherness? May be, it is a reminder that we are not, should not be islands, and that every bell that tolls talks to each of us, to quote John Donne.

Pratima@ Actually, this evening I attended a concert in which a talented young artist, Dr. Shantanu Gokhale, literally made  the entire audience devoted and dedicated to a difficult instrument, the santoor. As he introduced the audience to a raga not much known, the memory of the concert, a pournima of sura and taal, would long linger in the memory.

Memories are forever!

 November 26! The very date evokes multiple memories. On the one hand, it is the Constitution Day, the day that devoted the Constitution to us, the newly independent Indians, who thus thence became full fledged citizens with inalienable rights.

November 26! It is the day when Mumbai was rocked by a horrific terror attack by Ajmal Kasab and Cohorts! So many, fifteen long, years have elapsed, and yet the day is forever etched in my memory. In a way, it is inevitable because, that very night, my cat, whom I literally bottle fed as her mother had abandoned her as a kitten who had not even opened her eyes, attacked me most viciously. 

Why? Well, she was vaccinated every which way,  even against rabies, too. Extremely difficult to know/gauge why she clawed, bit me so fiercely. Just as Kasab and Cohorts controlled cruelly the CST, Mumbai, she held me hostage, literally mauling me.

 It was as if she was possessed. It was a Saturday. It was an Amavasya, a no moon day. Someone later pointed out, saying cats are used as vehicles of black magic. I would not know, but my soul is still seared  with her fond memories that ended so tragically, just as are both my forearms as they still bear those scratches and bites, deeply etched.

Pratima@ Time flies away but memories linger, whether sweet or bitter!

Meditations on devotion: Part I

As Aai was from Pandharpur, both the major Ekadashi's, Ashadhi and Kartiki, have always mattered to us. I find the full nomenclatures of these two tithi's very interesting. Ashadhi Ekadashi is known as "Devshayani" and  the Kartiki one is the "Devprabhodhini" Ekadashi.

The names mean that the Lord, Vithoba/Vishnu, takes total, complete rest from Ashadh to Kartik. In the heavenly Kshirsagar, he rests on the coils of Shesha Nag, with the hood of the snake protecting him from the elements, I suppose. In the Vithoba temple at Pandharpur, the idol wears the nightly headwrap, and a bolster like pillow is put behind the neck of the idol.

I like this anthropomorphism, and find it absolutely cute and adorable. It means that even gods  require rest! Sure, the lazy amongst us may use it to justify  themselves. Personally though, I would like to interpret this praxis as a cure to a burnout. Rest rejuvenates! Indeed a 'divine' message!

Pratima@How mature are such praxis! Tomorrow I am going to analyse the Tulasi Vivah.

Priorities! Choices!

 Have you met people for whom their pets are as good as human beings, who treat the pets almost like the baby of the family? Well, often I have, because now and then I do look in to the mirror. After all, I am Pratima! My very name means image.

There would be any number of people for whom pets/animals do not matter at all. Pets/animals for them are not even secondary citizens of the planet. As for the natural cycle/chain of life, they have forgotten the concept long time back, that is, after they finished off with their tenth,i suppose. 

Between these two types, who is right? I would say, both! Each to his/her choice, his/her priorities in life. None is either right/wrong, is my opinion. Why be judgemental so long as there is not any excess that may threaten, right? 

Let me think of another example. There are students for whom studies do not matter much. Their goals in life are different. May be, money matters the most for them, prestige pays, status suits. So the University of Life is what they believe in!

On the contrary, there are some students, not very many, may be, for whom knowledge, finally one day surely leading to wisdom, matters much more. They do not disbelieve the lessons life teaches, but the more organised way of learning, that is, systematic studies appeal more to them. 

Who is right? Who is wrong? I would say, each to his own! Why be judgemental? Why call someone the bookworm just because you hate the very look of a book? Such a person may not know the heady fragrance of a brand new book, as intoxicating as the fragrance  the earth exudes after the first summer shower!

Why be judgemental? Why comment on others' choices? Why snigger at an-other way of life? Why not each to his/her own? Does that mean I believe totally in relativism? No, not really! Yes, there are certain universal ethical values. So long these are not vitiated, all is well, is what I think.

Let me conclude with yet another concrete example.  So long as I believe that patriarchy accords men many advantages, yet it binds them in multiple ways as well, my feminism is humane. In fact, it would never allow me to compete with men, repeat the mistake traditionally associated with 'man'-kind! 

May be, hence I would never be rabid in my castigations against men. Neither would I be aggressive in the caste debate. Every issue/debate has present permutations, is inextricably rooted in the past combinations, but should have a vision for healthy, balanced futuristic paradigms, right?Why trivialise issues by-n-through excessive and exclusionary simplifications that may get nothing beyond a few claps with their own agendas!?!

Pratima@ Each to his/her own blessings and blemishes so long as ethically fraternities, freedoms, faiths bloom!

See-n-say

 Oh, do you think that the title of our little piece is wrong? Do you think it should have been "see saw" ? Well, not exactly an intelligent guess though! Our blog is not going to deal with the lovely childhood game.

Rather it going to be about the games played against women. Let us look an example or two, right?  A woman is ever jolly, always chatty, for instance. Immediately it would be argued that she is " free n forward."

If a woman is a silent, introvert type, she "acts too high," it seems! She thinks no end of herself, it is the universally accepted truth! While interpreting her innocent and clean, straightforward behaviour, berserk go such people. 

How then to survive? I suppose the best solution would be fair n few. This take on the title of the fairness cream which trivialises  women's identities would be helpful, right? 

It would mean be always be fair. No, no, no, fair does not have any reference to the skin tone.Behave the clean nice genuine   way would be the best bet, right?

Pratima@ Better thank the critics because they always keep one on the narrow path  of sunshine, of perfect goodness!

Women ARE better leaders!

 Across the world and in all fields, women are praiseworthy by their presence, and in fields as diverse as marine biology to space technology. True! Yet even today exists the glass ceiling. Noteworthy indeed is the fact that there is horizontal growth of women as workforce, while the vertical growth is minimal. 

Let me give you an extremely easily observable example to prove my point. In the academic field, nursery teachers to Ph.D. guides, zillion women can be found. Yet the nursery principal to the university chancellor, most all such positions would be occupied by men. Very very few women would make it, and those who do manage to get in to these power positions would be somebody's somebody!

Anyways, women as leaders is an issue that is bogged down in the perceptual mire. Let me mention a very easily observable trait to prove my assertion. Well, a leader has to be decisive. Whatever is 'decisive' or 'assertive' in men is 'aggressive' in women. In other words, the balance is tilted against women right from the beginning. Hence the need for a gender sensitive debate regarding women as leaders.

Personally, I am of the opinion that women do make better leaders. Sure there are bossy women, devils who wear Prada. Mostly though, women are more empathetic. Hence they are more team oriented, I believe. Even when thoroughly professional, they are not credit-crazy, I think.

Another objection is that women are women's worst enemies, and use gossip as a weapon to ruin a better candidate. Possible, though personally I believe that men gossip much much more than women do!

Well, yes, generalisations of any sort are questionable! Yet I do believe that women are better leaders. Want an example? Look at a working woman who runs a household.  She is all in one and always peaks at the right time. Without much help, she cheerfully charts the course, honouring all possible spaces, her own included. Hence the title of the blog!

Pratima@ Even as a rebel, Eve was far better every which way than the Satan! 

A Day to Celebrate Men

Yes, you read the title correctly.  Recently was celebrated a day to Honour Men. True, apparently it looks as if men have everything, and there is no need for any day dedicated to them.

Actually, it is not so. Yes, indeed there are very many drunkards, baiters, liars, corrupt officials, junkies, jerks, dominating power mongers. The list is endless, and there are ample proofs, mythology to modern times, to prove it. Hey, but it has to be admitted truthfully that all these descriptions apply to many women as well.

It is, moreover, equally true that there ARE good, decent, sincere, authentic men as well. There is indeed a need to honour them. It is undeniable that patriarchy is partial to men. It undoubtedly grants innumerable privileges to men.

It imprisons men as well. A man is not supposed to express emotions, for instance. Chefs are okay in hotels, for example. But a man who does not mind cooking, cleaning, being a house husband, is looked down upon.

 Yet there are men who choose to be human beings first and foremost. They perform their roles, son, brother, husband, father, friend, colleague most sincerely and sensitively. They try their best for an equitable world. They support women in the struggle to lead better lives. They are gems. Hence this need to burnish them with appreciation!

Pratima@ Gender discrimination by men is bad. Gender discrimination against men is unworthy, too!

 

Durdarshan indeed!

The reality contests, from the most local to the world wide, for all such and other very many tidbits, thy name is the iconic, Dear Doordarshan!

It is that time of the year yet again. Yes, it is the tine to celebrate the television as it is the television day. The millennials may not know nor understand why.  They have grown up in an era when the ubiquitous mobile has gobbled up the t.v. as well. The Covid years, moreover, added to the OTT effect. Binge watching is better on the mobile, anyways.

For all the earlier generations, the t.v. was central to existence so much so that the  very "modern" households would have a television set each for every bedroom!

The television, initially black and white was not this easily available. Till the mid-80's, very few urban households had acquired their own television sets. Sharing was common. To watch important sports events, films every Sunday, there used to be a line-up at the place of the only television set owner in the lane.

About the t.v. watching, too, there were many strict rules. No television set, however attractive, would decorate the family drawing room of most families till the youngest in the family completed his/her twelfth!

The news anchors were as influential as the film stars then. There used to be great serials then. Buniyad, Mahabharat (from its special introductory music onwards), and so on. Ramayana and Hum Log stars and characters, as of other serials, were more like family friends. The film based t.v. programmes such as "Chitrahaar" were immensely popular.

The advent of the multi-channel t.v. in the late eighties changed the very paradigm.  Thus entered in the t.v. business in a huge way the advertisers whose preferences were not necessarily artistic. The t.v. and watching it thus changed forever!

Thus began the debate if the t.v. was an idiot box that vitiated the tastes of the audience. Well, now the technology and the boldness of the content have gone so far that such debates hardly matter any more. 

Even then, in semi-urban third tier cities and in villages, the television continues  to entertain a lot, educate a little,  all along enriching lives a bit.  Long live the television!

Pratima@ The idiot box was much better any day any time than the  contemporaneous "kar lo duniya mutthi me" mobile!

All that ends well...

 THE final is now finally over. It has not ended well for the Indian cricket team. The result is quite unhappy for the Indian fans. Discussions, dissections, analyses have already begun, and would go on for quite some time as such a defeat hurts hugely.

In my opinion, however, there are very many positivities emerging out of this match. This THE loss teaches some winning strategies is the real moral in my opinion. Let us here explore a few lessons this match may teach us. Well, to begin with, for sure, such a match washes clean the accusation of match fixing. Thus the sporting spirit sure wins, whosoever may win the 'endgame'.

Equally happy I am that bookies must have lost hugely, much worse than the Indian team. That warms the cockles of my heart because such malpractices most malign the game!

Yet again this match proves how in critical situations, we must keep our nerve. One must not cave in, get pessimistic so very soon. One must have hence three or four foolproof  alternatives ready, in case the obvious fails.

Strategising matters the most is the real message of this match. The way the Australian team organised the fielding  exemplifies the need of this quality the most. They appeared more 'prepared' apparently. Never take the contexts (including the opponents) lightly is the real message of this match in my opinion.

Last but not the least, the real message this decisive contest provides is that we must never ever rely on or relax, given the past glories and laurels. Every day has to be a new beginning yet again.

Such resilience, such mental toughness would be the need of the hour as this century enfolds further. The technological speed is unbelievable, and is going to script and sculpt individual destinies definitively and decisively. Only when we thus 'make' ourselves thus/this strong, can all end well in the years to come!

Pratima@Every situation, every context may teach us important life lessons we must imbibe so that "all that ends well" is well!

Creative responses

 Cricket fever! This symptom defines the Indian psychological state currently. Want proof? Let us begin with the wapp groups. Many fun videos are making rounds which reveal how cricket is an obsession in India. 

On a group was shared a hilarious video that shows a typical South Indian Amma, mostly Tamilian, talking enthusiastically about the game even when her knowledge of the actual field begins and ends with "player should be below the ball when other team batsman hit ball high". 

Most statuses, typically flush so far with the festival or holiday pics, are now overflowing with the cricket trivia. Why, certain political parties have begun giving a religious colour to players' achievements!

When a nation thus obsesses, can Google be far behind? The Google search window always shows very creative responses to the local realities, the local festivals, the local celebrities, and so on. Currently, the Google doodle shows the cricket bat and the cup as icons donning the spelling! 

A subtle reference it could be to the fact that this world cup was more a batting heaven. Very creative is the visual. Equally interesting are the Amul advertisements. I would say that they are a combo of visual and linguistic creativity.

While teaching types of ad making to SYBA Comp English students, I used to refer to such ads in a big way. Similarly, while teaching vocabulary development techniques to FYBCom Add Eng students, I used to teach them through notions such as multiple intelligences, the EQ, and such ads.

I got to the classroom puzzles, jokes, unusual takes on traditional tales to teach students narration making. Well, forget such creative measures, even basic stuff such as report writing, project preparation, et al were promptly removed from the syllabus as soon as my say in the process ended!

I did not need to despair much though, as immediately all these, and many more such items I had included in the Add English curriculum, made entry in to the regular syllabi of Comp Eng, Add Eng and 'Value Added Eng' syllabi of affiliated colleges.

Due to the Covid context, I got a chance to teach these in an SPPU affiliated college. Luckily, I could explore both the online and offline modes of teaching these creative inputs. Most students liked them, too. Why, not only could I design mcq's based on these, I could make my students prepare relevant documents as well.

Creative inputs win in the final analysis, however much muzzled by the powers that be, with their own interests at stake. Hence the need to continue to be creative. Hence I teach my German students to understand such basic stuff as names, numbers, addresses by making them design creatively their own visiting cards, passports, visas. 

They get to know the family relationships by preparing family tree charts of famous families such as the Kapoor family, for instance. They know the countries where the language is spoken by putting together the flags, for instance. 

Such examples of making language learning both creative and useful become truly heartwarming when students use my SOP and LOR and GDPI notes not only for themselves to go abroad for further studies or while trying to get a job. They preserve these handouts for the younger siblings, moreover.  When they let you know such touching tales, you know that, creativity wins in the final analysis!

Pratima@ A syllabus that is both useful and has creative inputs is the need of the hour. Interesting literary texts add to the fun! 

Gentleman's game?

 Watch a typical football match. Adrenaline runs high. Every minute, the whole stadium, including the actual sports arena, is like a minefield. Passions pole-vault sky-high. The fans often get rowdy.

In a brilliant essay entitled "The Sporting Spirit", George Orwell, ever the conscience of the twentieth century Western world, talks of this downfall of the concept called fair game.

Currently, it is going downhill in other sports as well. Remember Sania Mirza's match in Hyderabad? More than Sania's game, it was the populace in the stadium who decided with their aggressive heckling which way the match would go.  

 Bereft of such underhand "deal"ings, cricket was clean, and was supposed to the gentleman's game. It used to be so played and so appreciated. The five day test matches used to be a FINE AND FAIR display of high quality talents. G. Vishwanath, Eknath Solkar, and others were true achievers, not to forget the 'great's like Gavaskar.

With the Packer's circus in the late 1970's, the game changed drastically. 'Professional' it became. As the formats kept on transforming till they reached the contemporary IPL one, money entered the game in a big way. It became the center stage player. 

Hardly hence it remains the typical traditional gentleman's game. Bookies and punters, they say, now determine the way a match would swing. In a country like India, where cricket is almost a religion, what with temples built to individual players, such malpractices are a danger.

Given the sheer size in India of cricket as big business, 'stakes' are high. Anyways, there are constant rumours of match-fixing, beginning with Sharma's toss winning tactics to the tampering of the pitch, all sorts of accusations fly thick and high! Such conspiracy theories are hardly the tonic for the game.

Hope the match tomorrow is not thus 'fix'ed. Hope the M-tonic does not make it artificially healthy/wealthy! Hope it is fair play by both the teams, the host and the guests! Hope punters are not the pundits tomorrow. Hope the game wins as it used to, when it was the gentleman's game! 

Pratima@ Money matters! And how much? And which all ways? Should/Must it though? Fingers crossed! May the art of the sport win!

Ayurveda

 Recently, on November 10 to be precise, was celebrated the Ayurveda Day. Given the Diwali feel, I felt that it would be better to address it later. So this blog on Ayurveda.

Ayurveda, as  a concept, is rooted in the Indian knowledge system. Its sources are Atharva Veda, Charak Samhita and Sushrut Samhita. Mainly, these three texts are the storehouse of the ancient medicinal knowledge, though other texts may have a few inputs.

Today as a practice, it is a little controversial though. Unlike the Yoga, for example, it is not accepted world wide. It has a constant run-in with the allopathic practitioners, moreover.

I look at the whole issue slightly differently. To begin with, I would like to bust this myth that there is not any side effect of/to the Ayurvedic medicines. Well, may be, we must accept that each and every medicine does have a side effect. The only defence of the Ayurvedic medicine could be that the side effects of these medicines are minimal, and most importantly, least invasive. 

Let me give you an example. Haldi/turmeric whose property rights became an international issue, would be dangerous, if taken in excess.Otherwise, even in the raw, unprocessed mode, a spoonful of turmeric per day is the best to maintain internal health.

Personally though, I think that Ayurveda is a holistic way of life.  It teaches you pranayam for the spiritual growth, and yogasanas for the psychosomatic balance. It is rooted in the Trisutri of the IKS. Basically, it discusses the tridosh. It shows us, moreover, how to be either satvik or rajas, and to avoid, the tamasik. In this sense, it shows us how to avoid the very source of the various dis-eases.

Moreover, it relates us to the larger whole. I think it shows us how to respect the flora for a  balanced life. As for fauna, all the references to "a tortoise with twenty-one nails" and "a snake with two mouths" are mere superstitions, and such profit-making businesses, a salute to international markets, are an outright insult to the real ayurvedic thought. 

Hence the need to understand, and practise Ayurveda. I would insist, moreover, that there be an open and honest dialogue with allopathic praxis. It would help establish the authenticity of this alternative and effective medicinal praxis.

Pratima@ The best solution is always symbiotic, right?

Celebrating Diwali Forever

  Like the proverbial king, Diwali came, stayed and won.  And went away, too. How to make it last forever? How to celebrate Diwali daily? A few tips here! May be, you can add a few, too.

Diwali feels good in households where it is welcome, right? I suppose, the same rule applies to people. Be with people who care for you, who welcome you, who celebrate you.

The corollary, obviously, would be to avoid like darkness (Diwali is the festival of lights, right?) people who hate you, deride you, demean you, consciously behave as if you are not there. Avoid a feast where you are not respected. So goes the proverb, anyways.

Next, make everyday a celebration of sorts. Does that mean daily you should have special food, new clothes, gifts, and the stuff? Not at all. Celebrating every day would mean making it special, spending it with a  given goal, and with enthusiasm.

I suppose, to make everyday in to a Diwali, we must avoid the 'daughter in law' syndrome. What is it? May be, it might be different for millennials. Otherwise, in earlier generations, there are these women whose in-laws suffer from every possible dis-ease, especially psychological, while their own parents, siblings, et al are perfection!

Actually, the situation is exactly the other way round. Their own people are meanness and nastiness personified. They never choose to see it though. If at all their in-laws behave eccentrically, it is their own behaviour for sure that drove the much  harassed souls to the unusual symptoms! 

In other words, the moment you stop consciously  finding faults that are not there because you choose to hate certain people out of your own wretchednesses, Diwali would be daily!

Pratima@ 'Diwali' is 'determined ideal wonderful and loving individualism"! 

Lost Childhoods

 On the occasion of November 14, that is, the Children's Day,  celebrated on every birth anniversary of Pandit Nehru, most regretfully we have to admit that the world today is at war against childhood.

No, I am not merely referring to the heinous cruelties against children during, and post, Hamas attack on Israel. Any war is 'bloody' in every sense of the word. Yet no other war so far had consciously targetted children.

That is inhuman indeed. Yet the daily lives of children even in countries enjoying  so-called 'normal' conditions are no better. Childhood is besieged today, and the very many demons targetting them are visibly invisible.

Child pornography, child abuse, for example, seem to be rampant now, and without much ado apparently, if the lurid details of the political saga currently unfolding in Maharashtra is any proof. Of that scandal, the worst victims are children, that, too, from reform/remand homes where they reached due to very many layers of inequities!

Yet another example!In the Covid era, children were forced to use the mobile. It ruined their eyesight, their postures, their consciousness. Now, in the post Covid era, there is hardly any real parental control over the mobile time or mobile content! Many mummies, in fact,  use the mobile to divert the attention of cranky babies!

The television  serials  are their staple diets. Mostly, highly volatile and violent are the relationships depicted there. The advertising  agency is hiding  behind, hovering just a little in the background, too!

Parents often are more self-obsessed now, with unmistakeable cravings for personal space. What happens to the little hearts, when parents fight with each other ferociously? Who cares?

Multiple are such issues. During the Diwali vacation, childhood neglect of many such and other varieties should get thoroughly addressed with some concrete, do-able suggestions getting  incorporated in the new syllabi. Only then can the new NEP bring joy, happiness and creativity in to the lost worlds of childhood. Long live children and their innocence!

Pratima@ Let the child be, allow the child to be the father of man!

Kindness is all!

 Better be kind always because everyone you meet is fighting a hard battle of which you know nothing. True! Hence the title of our blog which plays with the King Lear theme, namely, 'ripeness is all'. 

Yet currently we live in such a world that we require a special day to remind people to be kind. Well, the Wo(r)ld Kindness Day happens to be today! Kindness, I think, is the normal mode of behaviour. At least, it should be. It is not, however. In fact, gentle and kind people are considered rather weak and quite stupid in the cruelly competitive world today.

Yet the world today needs kindness in a huge measure. We need to be kind not only to human beings, but to the environment as well. We need to be gentle with so many species of flora and fauna getting extinct by the day. They reciprocate even a small act of kindness with genuinely gentle response. Not so with most people today!

Yet I get the feel that there is no need to be that pessimistic because it is only shallow and stupid people who are cruel. Similarly, people, who have a huge inferiority complex,  are crooked and cruel to cover it up.

May be, hence, to save oneself from such meannesses, there is a need to be kind to oneself as well. So long as kindness to oneself does not dwindle down to narcissistic self-indulgence, it is absolutely okay. Otherwise, in the chambers of heart  would echo hard selfishness.

In other words, kindness is a choice that enriches oneself. I feel, moreover, that kindness must hence be a discipline because it does require a huge sense of sacrificing one's self centered  indulgences. If not inculcated by parents in childhood, people can consciously practise it in adulthood through mindfulness training.

 Kindness is all. It saves you from all kinds of fall. Kindness costs nothing, but its value is beyond everything. Hence better be kind. Fortune, divine justice, karma, whatever you choose to call it, will sure favour you in kind!

Pratima@Kindness and gentleness may not add to your professional profile, but such sterling qualities make you genuinely pretty and truly brilliant! Care for others and yourself . It cures you of all that is destructive.  Be always kind, leave nicest memories behind!

Defining Diwali

 What does Diwali mean? Oh, yes, literally it means diwa/deepa and awli, that is, a row of diyas. Apparently, it refers to the lighting up of thousand diya's when Shri Ram  returned to Ayodhya after defeating Ravana. Beyond the myth, when do we have such abundance of light? Why do we have it? The answers to these questions means Diwali now.

Well, yes, let us begin with the crackers. Currently, Diwali is the abundance of crackers despite the court orders. There are very many pros and cons about bursting the crackers. What is wrong if we burst crackers for a day or two? Would not crackers be burst when India wins the world Cup? Why object to enthusiasm whenever Hindus have festivals?Objections galore!

Yet in a household where around a dining table, a discussion about the issue emerges and the youngsters at least listen to it, if not follow it, Diwali is truly celebrated because Diwali is that care and concern for each other. Diwali is that love for the larger whole, too. 

Diwali is that clean and well-lighted home decorated with love with a new acquisition or two. No, it is not merely a bow in the direction of consumerist economy. It is a kindness for the very home, and genuine love for those who reside in it.

Diwali is also the heart-felt gifts and the joy of getting and giving them. The gifts, small and big, mean the largeness of heart, the depth of love for each other which is the real meaning of the festival.

Diwali is the unique brilliance of head, heart and soul which takes us from all the darknesses within to the light of knowledge, to the brightness of consciousness. Thus we travel from mundane daily chores to better lives. Diwali is the name of that lighthouse within, which steers us away from the darkness called  meannesses, viciousnesses, cruelties to an inspired, better self! When that happens, when the inner demons are defeated time and again, every day becomes Diwali as every second is then and thus lighted up with zillion luminescences!

Pratima@ What is Diwali? Where is Diwali? When is Diwali? Well, Diwali is forever in a mind lit up with all that is better than the best!

Art in the times of Diwali

 The Diwali festival is designed as per the tithi's, that is, the sequence of days according to the lunar calendar/month. To adjust the cycle, often during the five days beginning with Vasubaras to Bhaubeej, there are extra days devoid of any particular religious significance. There are not any religious or community rituals either. There can be get- together's of friends or relatives. Yet another possibility, especially in Pune for the last decade or so, is the "Diwali Pahat" phenomenon.

Just as the Diwali special magazine issues, now available on the internet as well,  provide a space to authors, young, budding, established, all the varieties, similarly the "Diwali Dawns" provide a platform to artists. Hence the title of our blog, which is a take on the famous title by Marquez, a wonderful author indeed!

Actually during our childhood, art was very much an essential part of Diwali. Aai used to draw lovely rangoli's which used to include the traditional patterns as well as very new  creative imaginative ones. Like the skylights and the earthen diya's or the panati's, her rangolis used to enhance the Diwali feel. My brother's daughter-in-law, Ashwini, an accomplished dancer, is very good at it, too.

 We all used to draw and colour the Diwali greeting cards.  My brothers could make wonderful Akashkandil's, paper lanterns aka skylights. This year, I have made  for  them both decorative panati's, and skylights in  bottles. Gorgeous they look. Hope my brothers and their families like the artefacts.

That brings us back to art, and Diwali in the form of "Diwali Dawns". This morning, I had the pleasure of attending a simply superb "Diwali Pahat". Organised by a music school, Trikdha, the venue was a little too far away from my place. 

Yet I did not want to give it a miss because the musical instruments involved and the artists performing during this Pahat were most interesting.  It was a performance by the highly accomplished disciples of Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma (Dr. Shantanu Gokhale), Pandit Hari Prasad Chaurasia ( Saurabh Vartak) and Ustad Taufik Qureshi (his son). They played the santoor, the flute and the djembe respectively.

Simply superb their performance was. As it was organised by a music school, there was a sizable chunk of kids. Why, even they were spell-bound! In fact, there was a baby crying convulsively before the performance began. Well, later nobody needed to quieten the little one!

The highly gifted young trio indeed transformed the morning mehfil in to a divine experience. It was simply marvellous. Literally, one felt as if the mehfil should never end, and we all should continue our standing ovation to the fabulous art of these accomplished artists.

  All the three are superb artists and very sensitively communicated with each other which made their musical interaction far far better than a typical jugalbandi!  Surely all the three  were wonderful. Yet I felt that Shantanu Gokhale deserves a special thanks by the audience for making such a difficult instrument so very mellifluous. 

The classical performance  literally made the morning in to a great concert. The standing ovations, the thundering rounds of claps and the encores would not stop. It looked as if everyone wanted the mehfil to go on and on. No wonder, such "Diwali Dawns" don the festival with an art rich image. Long live Diwali Dawns!

Pratima@ If music be feel of festival, play on! Shakespeare sure would like my take on his great quote.

 

Diwali dawns

 Diwali dawns! I am using 'dawns' here to mean both, begins (as a verb) and the wee hours before the morning (as a noun).  Yes, both ways, 'dawns' means  happy, joyous moments. 

Diwali dawns, in the sense, begins on the Dhanteras day. As per the myth, it is the day when Devi Durga, Lord Kubera and Dhanwantari emerged from the samudra manthan, the churning of the Ksheer Sagar for amrita, the nectar of/for eternal life.

On this day, Aai-Papa used to pray to both Devi Laxmi and Dhanwantari. In other words, Diwali used to begin with the celebration of both wealth (In the Puja Patra, there used be foreign currency as well. They were both proudly happy about the various coins and notes their sons brought from abroad; Raju, literally from all over the world), but health as well. On this day, I suppose, most doctors, too, perform a Puja. 

Only on this day, Aai would put a 'panati', the earthen 'diya', with its wick directed southwards. The south is traditionally believed to be the abode of Lord Yama, the god of death. In a way, this custom is a subtle awareness of mortality, of death even in extreme joy, during abundance and celebration. May be, the ritual is also rooted in the bipolar balance of the earth, the north and the south poles, and the related equinox. Yes, I need to research a little, read up some more on this topic.

As for the Diwali dawns (as a noun), the lovely memories are simply a surfeit of all the senses. Aai would begin every Diwali morning with playing the LP record of Ustad Bismillah Khan's shehnai. Those gentle notes still play in my ears. The body and head massage with warm oil, next the warm water bath with the Diwali special 'utne' and Mysore sandal soap, not to forget the "owalni" with her soft, gentle fingers on a forehead still warm and wet, and the unique 'fulbaji' fragrance towards the end of the festival bath, well, to enjoy Diwali was a blessing. To be a child of loving parents was simply divine!

Pratima@ Every Diwali dawn would begin with the perfect 'faral', followed by a lovely lunch. As such sweets and those generous gifts were in those days enjoyed only during Diwali, the festival was complete contentment. 

Forgetting forever

 Memory is a boon, forgetting is a curse. All such silly platitudes vanish in to thin air when you think of or come face to face with patients suffering with Alzheimer's because in such mindscapes, memory itself is forgotten.

Alzheimer's is a truly painful dis-ease. It is indeed dis-ease because the patients lose their selves, their very identity, so to say. Dementia is a shade more tolerable because it is manageable. Alzheimer's  is not. Such patients do not remember anything or anyone, including immediate family. Much worse is the fact that they forget themselves.

What causes Alzheimer's? The brain chemistry of this auto-immune dis-ease is surely, though slowly, getting unravelled. Hopefully then, medicines would emerge as well. Right now, this dis-ease, on the rise even in the so-called developing countries, is tough both on the patient and the caregiver from the immediate family. 

Possibly such patients can never be left to the heartless carelessness of the paid para-medical staff. Ideally, the entire family should be involved  in taking care of such patients, and out of sheer gratitude for what the patient, when she/he was a 'person', did for you. Primarily, there must be an acute control of/over their movements because they can just walk out, and then completely lose their moorings. 

Hope the medical technology manages ASAP to cure this dis-ease which is a desert of oblivion. May it soon turn in to a h(e)aven!

Pratima@On the World Alzheimer's Day, a heartfelt prayer for sure, and  fast, in fact, urgent, remedies!

You hate me? Please feel free!

 Has this happened with/to you? Earlier, it used to happen hugely with me. That is to say, I used to feel terribly upset when someone would knowingly, consciously ill-treat me to let me know that she/he hates me, despises me, influences others to hate and despise me, moreover!

Well, I used to be like, I never bother you. In fact, you harass me. You ill-treat me every which way possible, spread silly gossip around in every nook and corner. Despite that horrendous inhumanity, I never descend down to your viciousness. Then why?

Indeed I could never fathom it initially. One day then I decided to analyse it thoroughly within myself. With a very powerful intellectual/ideational/emotional microscope, I analysed each and every thing about myself.

Then I realised that their not liking me, their despising me, their hatred of me, their ill-treatment of me IS THEIR problem, not mine at all. Even if I am better than the best, they are going to be nastiness itself.

Once I realised this, there was a huge sense of calm. Next came the realisation that whosoever you like/dislike reveals a lot about you, nothing much about the person. Let me give you an easy-to-understand example. If I like Amir Khan as an actor, it reveals a lot about me, about my abilities, my perceptual/intellectual levels and cognitive depth, my tastes/priorities, and so on. On the contrary, if I dislike Dada Kondke, once again, it reveals who I am. 

This insight led me to the next realisation. Who exactly are THEY as human-beings? May be, I am not accepting the fact  that they are trivial nobody's within themselves. If so, why worry about their hatred and their dislike, right? Hence the title of this blog. What say?

Pratima@When you are going to market, on the way, at every crossroad, there would be thousands of mange-eaten, flea-infested, garbage-fed curs barking at you, right? Why waste time and energy throwing stones at them? Better be like the elephant, an extremely intelligent, sensitive, generous being, who despite the huge power to crush to pulp such creatures, ignores all such distractions!

Cant

 Look carefully at the title of the blog today. What do you think it means? No, it is not the abbreviation of 'can not' as the apostrophe sign is missing. No, it does not mean religious mumbo-jumbo.  

Okay, let me give you a clue or two. Gr8, B4 are examples of it. Have not got it as yet? Well, listen to this anecdote. An over indulgent Daddu (yes, such is the status symbol which shows that you have arrived; has nothing to do with filial love) often heard Sonny Boy scream 'LOL' in to his smart phone. So he deduced that it meant 'lots  of love'.

One day, his wife's aunt broke her hip. Huge as it was though, must have taken a hard hit indeed, he thought of the mean machine when he was told that a Volkswagen hit her. Well, he wanted always to be in the good books of his son's mother, and that rather huge branch of the family tree.

So he asked Sonny to send across a 'LOL' message. Wifey flew in to a rage. As usual, he could not understand why the good ole Vesuvius  erupted yet again. Very innocently said he, 'I am sending your aunt lots of love'. Sonny screamed 'ROFL' and took pity on the ignoramus to explain that 'LOL' meant 'Loads of Laughter'.

Now he knew why the good ole Vesuvius spewed poison! ICYMI, the episode straight from a comic strip should tell you that the titular 'cant' refers to a secret code shared by the core group. 

As if the emoji's were not enough, this version of the 'cant' is quite a headache! 'ROFL' has no French connection, mind you. It means 'rolling on floor laughing'! 'ICYMI' is not an educational institute, 'in case you missed it'. 

Most exclusionary is this so-called creativity. In a way,  reminiscent of the linguistic process of 'acronymy' is this 'epigraphy'. See how bothersome jargon is! The social media users revel in it though.

So let my blog not get the 'TMI'(too much info) tag, coz then the readers may 'TL;DR' (too long, don't read) it. 'NVM'(never mind). 'LMK' (let me know) if you practice this fashionable eyesore called 'cant'!

Pratima@ 'AFAIK' (as far as I know), 'cant' cannot clear  communication!Hinders it the best, causing quite a 'noisy' havoc!

Love Spirit

Love is the spirit, amd the spirit is love. Oh, why the tautological platitude, is that your question? Well, I was listening to "You belong with me" by Taylor Swift, a song she wrote and sang in the initial part of her career, when she was literally the sweetheart of the entire U.S., not to forget the whole jing-bang, the fans of English pop music.

It is a cute song. It describes the typical Veronica-Betty-Archie love triangle. The speaker in the song is the Betty type, the good, nice, clean, innocent girl next door, who is sweet but not sexy. Veronica, on the other hand, is the cheer girl to Betty's 'bleacher' sit-out. She is clearly the 'rich bitch' type, too.

The speaker has the spirit, the soul, the heart of the guy who has a crush on a girl who just is not his type, who does not understand him, and makes him sad and blighted! Well, in Bollywood, we have the "pehla nasha, pehla khumar, naya pyar hai", literally the love anthem, from "Jo jita wohi Sikander", right? This song captures the same spirit, but only from the perspective of Anjali, the character enacted by Ayesha Jhulka.

Well, it is a song full of yearning. It celebrates the 'you make me better/complete, but I hang out with her' addiction. It is written in very simple English. The presentation of the nerdy but nice Taylor Swift is sweet, too. 

Yet, it does raise certain basic questions as well.  Why is the "you" Taylor Swift is singing/talking to, the guy who repeatedly 're-turns' to her for soulful solace and sweet smiles, so insensitive and stupid that he is ready to lust after a hothead?

 Why is he ready to throw away the pearl, the diamond in his hand, to slightly misquote Othello!?! Is he then the worthy guy at all? Is she misreading his thoughtless insensitivity as friendship? Useless questions actually 'coz heart has reasons the head knows nothing of! 

Pratima@"I love you not only for what you are, but also for what I am when I am with you, when I think of you," the 'high' of 'romantic' love!

War

 Unfortunately, "war" has become the 'open sesame' clue of our world recently. Just when we thought we had managed the war against Covid, erupted the Russia-Ukraine war. As it lingers on (does anyone know whatever is happening on that front currently?), the Palestine-Israel war is re-creating the gory scenes by the hour!

There is a war against peace currently. That is why people blithely talk of a war to end wars! Actually, war is truly vicious these days, what with the technological advances available. At times, I think that Einstein was so spot on when he said that "I would not know the weaponry of the Third World War, but the Fourth World War would surely be fought with stones and sticks!". 

Yet at times I do feel that often the war could be nothing but an attempt to create a market place for the outdated war technology so that the new lot could be invented, and marketed! Just like the way Indian women, (next African, later Latin-American women) became beauty queens, Miss Universe, Miss World, Miss Galli to Miss Dilli so that beauty products could sell, right?

No, I am not being cynical. Consumerism is key word of the world today, not to forget the cartel practices for business  booms! Yet the real enemy leading to the innumerable massacres is not really the economy or the post-LPG financial structures. 

Rather the fiend lies in the human heart! It can be the aggressive feel of ethnicity mixed with the militant religious intolerance, a dangerous cocktail which breeds the terrorists who have changed the very face of the world after the Twin Tower terror. Till that fatal fall, there was mostly a mutual tolerance which is now replaced by a bitter, vicious suspicion which leads to wars galore, in Afghanistan, in Gaza,

The Russian invasion is a by-product of the NATO border skirmishes which America  using to downsize the Putin-Xi alliance is Interesting unions creating a multi-polar world! Here economic sanctions to crypto-currency, subtle but vicious were the post-modern weapons.

In all this political-religious frenzy and economic hustle-bustle is forgotten the fact that those who die are the innocents! No longer are soldiers the only martyrs. Even children are not spared now! No songs of innocence any longer, only the pathos that Tennyson so sensitively captured in "Home they brought her warrior dead!"

Pratima@ "Never think that war, however necessary, however justified, is not a crime," maintains Hemingway.

Audience response

 Remember, some time back, the TRP war had raged on, and violently? The only worthy detail of that manipulated and manipulative machinations is the underlying need of-n-for audience response.

Audience response and its vagaries form a touchy feely point for all the media. Let me give you an example. As much as the traditional audio, video, audio-video media, the social media matters a lot these days, right? In fact, there are media pundits who maintain that the social media would wipe out the traditional mode altogether in the AI times.

Yet be it the traditional or the social, both the media are controlled by the public, the audience. They can be controlled via the advertising. Equally interesting is the actual response. Most all YouTubers grumble that the moment they prepare a video that is not sensational or is not a 'soft' appeal to mushy emotions, or does not deal with politics, the great Indian obsession, 'views' plummet!

True! How many people watch Tedex talks, for instance? How many are interested in the History Channel? This evening, I got a chance to visit an experimental theater and a performance platform made out of  depleted factory premises. How much is the presence at such places? How many people attend meets that address genuine but not 'newsworthy' issues? Are not artists pressurised in to performing filmy, Bollwoody-ish pop songs rather than the classical raga's?  Closer home, how many students attend lectures regularly?

Yes, the audience response, including the likes, the thumbs-up and the forwards, is quirky, quite unfathomable, quintessentially tiring. Yet a committed creator never compromises with the quality. Quantity hardly matters anyways, be it number of releases or the audience response. Without being snobbish or dismissive, how to respect the truth and one's integrity, that is the question!

Pratima@The footfall @ our blog is nearing 70, 000. Thank you, everybody! Well, I do not use any  audio-visual inputs. It is just words, words and words, to quote Shakespeare's Hamlet. Mostly, I address non-glamourous issues. Yet this sure response is heartwarming. Thank you, dear regular readers!

Why gossip?

 Indeed why gossip? Well, I always find it extremely funny that people may not have time to talk to you. They are that busy. They would immediately quote workload. They have loads of time to gossip about you though!

Indeed why gossip? May be, in the mediaeval era, life was indeed tough. There were not any means or modes of entertainment. Why, in Europe those days, poets were troubadours, and drama even in its most didactic form was not even thought of, while India was warding off invasions. Given such hard times, was there this formula of amusement possibly? Well, but why now in the twenty-first century? May be, most people refuse to grow up beyond their cave-inhabitant versions, I suppose!

Gossip is malicious. One cannot laugh it off by maintaining that people find you so dangerous to their careers or lives that they try to minimise/dim(inish) you through gossiping. Sure, one does ignore it completely because one's clean life, innocent behaviour anyways do not match up with the gossipmongers' lies. Gossipmongers fall flat on their faces for SURE!

The fun fact incidentally is that the term etymologically originated from "godsib", the christening godfather or godmother, responsible for you. By the seventeenth century, it got the current vicious meaning, which was cemented by the nineteenth century. With the advent of television serials and further the social media, I suppose, gossiping has got properly institutionalised!

The best way to deal with gossipmongers is to ignore them completely which sure irritates them more. For SURE. One can confront them the moment there is some concrete proof of their villainy because any ways they are cowards who cry hoarse about you behind your back! They would not have an iota of the daring to say anything upfront because anyways they are NOT upright! Cheap creeps, more to be pitied if at all one thinks of them!

Anyways, people who listen to gossips have to be equally brainless. May be, they so much lack character that they could harass you to please whosoever is influential or is a moneybag. Such people who thus allow themselves to be used are beneath contempt indeed! Not even worth a moment of your precious life!

Well, it is indeed best to remember that gossips have a very unhappy, unpleasant, unfulfilled life. So this need of theirs to find  some vicarious pleasure through gossiping! Poor things! Must be pitied than despised!

Pratima@ Those who thus try to bring you down prove irrefutably that they are indeed low, and beneath you!!

The Seventy Hours Debate

 To work or not to work for seventy hours, that is the question. Since the Infosys founder Mr. Murthi expressed his opinion about the need for a seventy hours strong week, India has exploded in to opinions  in such a vehement way that no need now, or ever since, would there be to prove Amartya Sen's title "The Argumentative Indian"!

Well, there seem to be three groups; industrialists/owners who support Mr. Moorti, often quoting the 9(hours) 6(days) Chinese formula form the first group. Their argument seems to be that we cannot follow the laid-back Western formula of 'forty hours' types.

 Well, true in a way because we are thus aping the West, while jumping across-n-over many steps when/where they worked very hard to now relax the cool way. This expectation is like that of  the hot-headed wifey's who wants her young husband, who could be just two years older than her, to immediately provide her all the creature comforts that her father provided her mother when the lady was in the late forties or early fifties!

The second group is obviously the working group who finds the expectation ridiculous because the wages are low, the office-home balance is butchered, and so on. Doctors, the third group, provide all the jazz in to this melody, rather cacophony, because they quote the life style diseases as if such diseases do not have other parentage such as bad eating habits, lack of exercise, et al. 

I have a fourth and a fifth reaction to this debate! To begin with, my feel is that it is only the organised (mostly the I/T) sector that can thus grumble. Anyways, their percentage in our society is minimal. The majority of Indians work in the unorganised sector where they work for ten hours a day, Monday through Saturday, both inclusive (as job offer letters would put it!) anyways, and yet live long, and lead rather happy and healthy lives!

My second  opinion is a question. "Do the cribbing people really work so sincerely, so hard"? I get this kind of reflex reaction even when people opine that for a peon's job, there were hundred Ph. D. candidates. Well, are these so-called Ph.D. holders really knowledgeable? We all know very well what goes on in that factory called Ph.D. production!

 Are not most Ph. D. degrees a bigger version of  the "spit/vomit" variety of appearing for the exam fiasco, that is, relax/bunk the whole semester, but the night before the exam, stay-up the whole night, memorise as much as possible, and the next day, spit/vomit as answers whatever you might remember!

Can there be, for example, a Ph. D. in any subject (as the thesis is anyways written in English!), but especially in Linguistics and the ELT (two  really very easy areas actually), who cannot speak or write a single qcorrect, simple sentence in English?!? Why then grumble that such candidates apply for and get a peon's job!?!

 Do we really have a genuine, efficient, smart (not hard!) work culture? Very rarely in government offices! In private companies, it might be a shade better. Most employees work for the pay cheque alone. Very rare are the employees who love their work! 

Least actual work, procrastination, making others shoulder the responsibility, ugly and cheap politicking and ganging up, third rate gossiping, that is the sum total of the work experience hereabouts, the great Indian jugad! Work (ethics!) is hardly worship hereabouts! Honourable exceptions, very very few anyways, prove the rule! 

When such storms rage, I feel, all these people should ask their favourite heroes, cricketers and film stars how much and how hard they work!?! May be, Mr. Moorti would then be less maligned!

Pratima@ All the bitterness apart, the Moorti remark has generated a blast of cartoons of all varieties. Most wonderful was the one my brother forwarded to me, in which Akshata Moorty, lovingly buttoning in a carnation/a rose in husband's lapel, is all the while telling him,"Papa called and said, tell Rishi to ask the English cricket team to practice in the net for seventy hours"!

Karwa Chauth

 Bollywood is indeed a huge equaliser. In a way, it could be said that next to cricket, the great passion hereabouts, Bollywood is hugely instrumental in creating a pan-Indian feel. Especially noteworthy is the fact that it has popularised certain religious rituals across the length and breadth of India. Karwa Chauth is one of them. 

Well, if you were to look up the traditional tale of Karwa Chauth, it has clear echoes of the Savitri story. It is about a woman's determined effort to make her dead husband come alive, to get back her dead husband's life even after a wait of a year, it seems. It has a dash of a brother's concern for his sister's welfare and well-being as well.

 Even a child anywhere in India would know the elaborate rituals of the Karwa Chauth, popularised as they are by Bollywood. Like the nine sarees of nine different colours (Major newspapers list them a day before! A full page is devoted each day to pics of women draping the special colour of the day!) that women wear during the Navratri,  Karwa Chauth, too, is an occasion to deck up. Lovely mehendi patterns, great "joodas" of bangles from the wrist almost up to the elbow, nathani, new saree, literally the works!

Once upon a time, the vrat and the rituals  must have been a way of giving at least for a day  some focal importance, a central role to the otherwise much ignored, hugely sidelined woman of the household. Undoubtedly, like everything else celebrated en masse now a days, this day, too, would inevitably be a consumerist frenzy now. 

Well, the feminists versus the traditionalists  debate rages each year when it comes to celebrating such festivals during the contemporary times. Women have been sending space shuttles to the moon now!

 Well, such a critique could be dangerous in a  fraught polity like ours wherein the moon and the fasting both are central to very many traditional practices, and across religions, Ramzan Rozas to the forty days long Lent fast before the Easter to give two well-known examples, right?

May be, one should be civil and generous enough to accept the individual right to celebrate any festival, observe any ritual in the personal space without violating any human(e) rights or without vitiating the public sphere, I would say.  Each (wo)man to her/his own personal priorities so long as everybody respects everyone's right to be, I suppose! 

Pratima@ "A (daily) ritual means I am voting for myself; I am taking care of myself," says Mariel Hemingway.

Why be judgemental?

October 31.  The birth anniversary of Sardar Patel and the death anniversary of Indira Gandhi! Well, across wapp groups, there was a tsunami of messages. Mostly highly judgemental, that is to say, proving that most wapp message makers (actually 'forward' pushers) thought they are the judge, mental actually most of them appeared!

To be extremely honest and frank, I have never understood such blame game. Very sincerely I do think that all of us are made by our times. This rule applies even to a great genius. The field could be anything, literature or science. In other words, in his own unique way, Shakespeare is very much a product of his times, the European Renaissance, and so is Galileo.

Unmistakable are the signature tunes the Renaissance plays in their oeuvre. Similarly, as per their own contexts, those who understand them, interpret them. Hence we have as many Shakespearean plays as there are readers. Similarly, till an Einstein re-interpreted it, reality was Newtonian, and much was achieved thus, too, right?

None must ever forget that it is easy to be judgemental in hindsight. When XYZ is living in that ABC moment, in that particular LMN context, one behaves in a certain way, most often as nobly and hopefully as ideally as is possible to them then, is my belief. In hindsight, anyone can find thousand faults and million errors because both the person and the context are long-lost! Remember, only the person who wears it knows where the shoe pinches!

So why be judge(-n-)mental? Public loves this irresponsible idiosyncratic ignorant game though. Want thereof a proof from close quaters? Look at the way each generation finds faults with forefathers! A grandfather is always a villain to a father whose son considers him a Hitler. Not much different is it with the feminine version. 

My real problem with this nitpicking fault-finding is that in the entire process, most people totally forget the positivities, the unmistakable achievements, right? In the familial fold, for example, children, who constantly crib, forget how the parents sacrificed a thousand moments for them, how they tried the best that was then possible for their progeny. Well, most all see the mote in others' eyes, while completely ignoring the beam in their own!

A classic case of throwing boulders at others while living in a glass palace is the judge(-n-) mental behaviour in my opinion. So why waste time on such (intellectually) lazy time-pass? Let me share a very touching memory of October 31. 

Jimmy, our childhood companion, had to stay in the Katraj Zoo animal shelter as we all were to go to Aarey Colony at Prakash Mama's place for Diwali. Sanju and I left Mumbai the morning after Bhaubheej to get him home as early as possible. 

Jimu's joy when he saw us after a separation of four days was beyond description. Well, while he was heavenly happy in the plastic basket in which we carried him home, Sanju and I found the absolutely empty streets rather funny. 

We reached home, and then we knew! Sure, the Pune context was not as gory as Delhi then.  Yet we were terribly tense till Aai-Papa reached home by the evening. Raju was sailing, safely away from all the trouble.

Yet each time I think of October 31, and of Jimu, I remember Sanju and I getting him back in that plastic basket, Jimmy boy feeling supremely secure, and I cannot forget the eerie silence in the very air then. Well, personal precedes the political! 

Pratima@ Why throw stones at others unthinkingly? Well, when you judge others, letting loose unthinking opinions, you are not defiling them, you are defining yourself!